The Night of the Hunter —incredibly, the only film the great actor
Charles Laughton ever directed—is truly a stand-alone masterwork. A horror movie
with qualities of a Grimm fairy tale, it stars a sublimely sinister Robert
Mitchum as a traveling preacher named Harry Powell (he of the tattooed
knuckles), whose nefarious motives for marrying a fragile widow, played by
Shelley Winters, are uncovered by her terrified young children. Graced by images
of eerie beauty and a sneaky sense of humor, this ethereal, expressionistic
American classic—also featuring the contributions of actress Lillian Gish and
writer James Agee—is cinema’s most eccentric rendering of the battle between
good and evil.

***

Working from a script by James Agee (The
African Queen), Laughton created what he called "a nightmarish sort of
Mother Goose tale," employing an eclectic mix of visual styles (German
expressionism, D.W. Griffith) to convey both the horror of Powell's quest and
the idyllic flight of the children to the safety of the farm of an old spinster
(Gish). In addition to Stanley Cortez's stunning cinematography, the film boasts
Robert Mitchum's greatest performance--a chilling essay that would unfortunately
typecast him for much of his career. Beautiful, haunting, poetic, and intensely
personal,
The Night of the Hunter is a unique, terrifying masterpiece. The
adaptation of the Davis Grubb novel was the last film work by James Agee.
Audiences didn't know what to make of this one; it bombed, and the great
Laughton never directed again.

None,
Danish, Dutch, English, English for the hearing impaired, Finnish, French,
German, German for the hearing impaired, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish and
Swedish

English, None

Features

Release Information:
Studio: Mgm/Ua Studios

Aspect Ratio(s):
Full Screen (Standard) - 1.37:1

Discographic Information:
DVD Encoding: Region 1

Edition Details:
• Theatrical trailer (2:08)
• 8-Page Booklet

DVD
Release Date: May 1, 2001
Keep Case

Chapters
32

Release Information:
Studio: Mgm/Ua Studios

Aspect Ratio(s):
Full Screen (Standard) - 1.37:1

Discographic Information:
DVD Encoding: Region 2 / 4

Edition Details:
• Theatrical trailer (2:08)
• 8-Page Booklet

DVD
Release Date: May 17th, 2001
Keep Case

Chapters
16

Release Information:
Studio: Criterion

Disc Size: 47,001,567,071 bytes

Feature Size: 27,592,194,048 bytes

Average Bitrate:

35.09
Mbps

Dual-layered
Blu-ray
MPEG-4 AVC Video 1080P

Edition Details:
•

Audio
commentary featuring second-unit director Terry Sanders, film critic F. X.
Feeney, archivist Robert Gitt, and author Preston Neal Jones • Charles
Laughton Directs “The Night of the Hunter,” a two-and-a-half-hour treasure
trove of outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage (2:39:02 in HD)• New
documentary featuring interviews with producer Paul Gregory, Sanders,
Feeney, Jones, and author Jeffrey Couchman (37:59)• New
video interview with Laughton biographer Simon Callow (10:35)• Clip from the The Ed Sullivan Show in which cast members perform a scene
deleted from the film (3:52)• Fifteen-minute
episode of the BBC show Moving Pictures about the film

NOTE:The below
Blu-ray
captures were taken directly from the
Blu-ray
disc.

ADDITION: Criterion
Region 'A' Blu-ray
- (November 2010) -

Firstly, Criterion get the aspect ratio correct
(1.66:1) that neither of the DVDs had (both were 1.33) - NOTE: Night of the Hunter is absolutely,
unquestionably 1.66. I've run both 35mm and 16mm prints of this film and
if you project it 1.37 full-frame, you actually see the top of the
soundstage in the sequence where the children land at the barn in the
moonlight. The 1.37 DVD carefully crops in several sequences, including
that one. It's such a beautifully designed film that it looks perfectly
OK when "opened up", except in a few scenes such as the one mentioned.
(Thanks Peter!)

NOTE: Criterion released The Night of the
Hunter back in the days of LaserDisc -
#28 (# CC1128L). It was 2-sided CLV and in 1.33:1 aspect ratio.

Here it is. This is one of the cinephile 'dream
films' that for a very long time so many were hoping would be
released in a special edition DVD - let alone a Blu-ray
by Criterion!! Along with
Metropolis - this is one of the most anticipated
releases of the entire year.

Looking at the captures it appears as though the DVDs were not
'open matte' as information is cropped from the side edges as
compared to the 1.66 Criterion

Blu-ray.
The image quality is wonderful - darker than the NTSC DVD which
now looks a bit boosted.
There is beautiful grain visible. It is perfectly clean, very
film-like and consistent in-motion. I doubt it will ever look
any better for your home theater. Ever.

Criterion remain faithful to the original
monaural track with a lossless liner PCM rendering. There aren't
a lot of effect sounds and dialogue, and occasional singing, is
exceptionally clear and consistent.

As usual,
Criterion include optional English subtitles and my
Momitsu
confirms that the disc is region 'A'-locked.

Criterion stack their edition with pure
supplement gold - we get a super audio commentary featuring
second-unit director Terry Sanders, film critic F. X. Feeney,
archivist Robert Gitt, and author Preston Neal Jones. This is
like a dream come true listening to this collection of experts
reminisce, discuss, point out factual production details and
more. I truly enjoyed it. With fans starving for more after the
DVDs had nothing but a trailer it seems a real gluttonous feast
to get the INCREDIBLE 2.5 hour "Charles Laughton Directs “The Night of
the Hunter,” a treasure trove of outtakes, Laughton's coaching of the
children, the tension between the director and Shelley Winters,
'rushes', and
behind-the-scenes footage available on a second dual-layered Blu-ray disc included in the
package. I'm actually grateful that this even existed as an inclusion and that Robert Gitt was able to
procure it and edited it over years and years (an amazing story in itself). Magnificent. Tack on a new documentary featuring
interviews with producer Paul Gregory, Sanders, Feeney, Jones,
and author Jeffrey Couchman (his highly recommended
The Night of the Hunter: A Biography of a Film) and a
new video interview with Laughton biographer Simon Callow (Charles
Laughton: A Difficult Actor). Included is a clip from
the The Ed Sullivan Show, September 25th, 1955, in which cast members perform a scene
deleted from the film. There is a 15-minute episode of the BBC
show Moving Pictures about the film, an archival interview
(1984) with
cinematographer Stanley Cortez , a gallery of sketches by author
Davis Grubb, author of the source novel,
The Night Of The Hunter. There is a new 17-minute video
conversation between Gitt and film critic Leonard Maltin about 'Charles
Laughton Directs' about the discovery and restoration of the
material used to make the documentary - on the 2nd Blu-ray - and there is an original theatrical trailer. Lastly
we get a 30-page liner notes booklet featuring essays by critics
Terrence Rafferty and Michael Sragow. Criterion appear to have
gone well beyond their usual high standard for supplements and
these are an incredible selection of extra features.

How such a masterpiece film was ever misled into
forgotten alleys of obscurity - even its its bare-bones
DVD releases - is a mystery we will never be able to solve. This
is another instance where Criterion have resurrected an
important piece of classic cinema positioning it to its proper place in the digital home
theater universe. I feel sorry for those in Europe and Australia
who are locked to region 'B' - if ever there was a reason for
them to indulge in a region free Blu-ray
player - THIS is it. I can guarantee that The Night of
the Hunter on Blu-ray won't be forgotten in
our year end poll - where I expect many will rank it in the top
5 of the year. This has our highest recommendation. I can't think of
anything more enthusiastic to say than 'absolutely essential'.
I'll be buying multiple holiday season copies for 'uninitiated'
friends.

he
R1 is much sharper, more detailed blacks. Other than that the discs are
pretty much the same except the R2 has more dubs and sub-title options
including for the hearing impaired. The R1 has double the Chapters. The
R1's better image quality is the sole reason to stick with the R1 for this
piece of classic cinema.

NIGHT OF THE HUNTER – Like THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY, this film was
restored by MGM after these DVDs were released, so expect some special
edition reissue with the upgraded sound and picture in the near future.
I say never soon enough. You can read more details on the
restoration UCLA and MGM did in the January 2002 American
Cinematographer magazine (pages 86 – 100), including how the original
soundtrack was transferred at 96kHz/24bits for digital backup.